BOSTON — The House will make its own attempt at welfare reform next week by considering a bill similar to one already adopted by the Senate that would require photo identification on benefit cards and force welfare recipients to look for jobs.

The House version, set for debate and floor votes Wednesday, would require a Social Security number within three months of a benefits application for those without one, and would cut off benefits for recipients whose mail is returned as undeliverable.

The anti-fraud measures in the House bill follow on reports earlier this year that thousands of state voter registration mailings for welfare recipients came back to the state as undeliverable, and that some recipients were using Social Security numbers of dead people.

Other provisions impose sentences up to 10 years in prison for trafficking in food stamps.

The job-search requirement was pushed by Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, in the bill adopted by the Senate in June. The House bill would require applicants to show that they searched for work before they receive welfare assistance, and would allocate $6 million for a program to link welfare recipients with regional employers using existing state employment centers. They would be required to provide lists of employers contacted for jobs each week.

The bill calls for the state to terminate cash assistance to anyone who does not provide the information, but would not allow termination of cash assistance to the recipient's dependent children.

The jobs program would be called the "Pathways to Self Sufficiency Program," and would identify welfare applicants' relevant job skills and experience, then match those applicants with appropriate employment through employment agencies and the state's one-stop career centers. The bill specifies that an applicant otherwise eligible for assistance would not be denied temporary benefits while awaiting employment placement under the program.

Last year the Legislature placed new restrictions on welfare benefits, expanding prior prohibitions on the use of benefit cards to buy alcohol, tobacco and lottery cards to also include gambling, firearms, travel agencies, tattoos, body piercings, jewelry, court fines or bail.

State Rep. George N. Peterson Jr., R-Grafton, said changes adopted by the Patrick administration during a 100-day effort to get better control over welfare fraud, income and identification verification, appears to have been effective. Still, he said, he is concerned whether the state has adequate computer cross-checking abilities in place to root out fraud and to follow up on those without Social Security numbers.

"I think we have moved in the right direction, but you still get conflicting stories about the actual magnitude of the problem. Anecdotally, we hear the people that are dead are receiving benefits or that there are people with large sums (unspent) on their benefit cards," Mr. Peterson said of the wave of abuse reports in recent years.

He said he has spoken repeatedly with Division of Transitional Assistance Commissioner Stacey Monahan, as she put expanded enforcement efforts and new reforms in place starting in March.

"That plan is in place and is being implemented and I think we will see a lot of results from that. I think she had done a good job implementing the 100-day plan," Mr. Peterson said.

"The frustration level among the general public comes from them hearing about these cases in the newspapers. They don't want to shut the system down for those who need it," he said, noting that everyone recognizes abuse by some reduces resources for who need assistance.

As a legislator he said, "I want to find out why, when someone ends up with a large balance on their card — that should be an automatic trigger," to investigate. "It could be either fraud with someone applying for more than one card, or it could be an elderly person in the hospital, but someone needs to check into it."

He said Commissioner Monahan has started to take that kind of approach and has been "tightening up the Social Security situation" as well as using verification methods such as going to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to determine how many cars are registered at a recipient's address.

Meanwhile, the state has been tracking use of ATMs at stores that sell products ineligible for purchase by benefit cards and blocking use of benefit cards at some businesses's ATM machines. Also being eyed more closely are indicators of benefit card abuse, including numerous purchases in whole dollar amounts.

This month DTA reported that one in seven Massachusetts residents rely on welfare and food benefits. Of households receiving Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children cash benefits, 93 percent were headed by women and 28 percent had disabilities. Of clients receiving Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC) cash benefits, 61 percent were disabled, 36 percent were elderly and more than half were women. The average monthly SNAP benefit, per household, per month has been $234. The average monthly cash benefit, per family, per month has been $453.

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